NC Museum of Natural Sciences Research Blog

Icon of the Space Dream

Neil A. Armstrong (August 5, 1930–August 25, 2012): American Astronaut, member of the Apollo 11 crew (which included Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin), and the first man to walk on the Moon.

Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon may be thought as the pinnacle of NASA’s space program, the culmination of a great international race to go literally “where no man has gone before.” And I sincerely hope that someday we rekindle the decades-old NASA mission for great human space exploration. We are capable of the most amazing things.

Thanks to Neil Armstrong, and all the Apollo Astronauts, for their bravery and incredible spirit of adventure.

Portrait of Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing mission in his space suit, with his helmet on the table in front of him. Behind him is a large photograph of the lunar surface. (Credit: NASA)

Apollo 11 astronauts trained on Earth to take individual photographs in succession in order to create a series of frames that could be assembled into panoramic images. This frame from Aldrin’s panorama of the Apollo 11 landing site is the only good picture of mission commander Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface. (Credit: NASA)